Sports

Top order let us down, laments Holder

HYDERABAD, India (CMC) — Captain Jason Holder has laid the blame for West Indies' series defeat at the feet of the top order, conceding their lack of runs put too much pressure on the remainder of the line-up during the calamitous two-match rubber against India.

The Caribbean slide slumped to a 10-wicket loss inside three days of the second Test on Sunday, after they were dismissed for 127 in their first innings – their joint lowest-ever total on Indian soil.

West Indies failed to make 200 in either innings of the opening Test in Rajkot last week when they were beaten by an innings and 272 runs, also in three days.

“I think our top order has really let us down in the recent past. They haven't been getting the runs that we've been looking for. Anybody knows that,” Holder lamented.

“In any cricket, you're asking your top five-six batters to get the bulk of the runs. It hasn't been that way for us. We've been heavily reliant on our middle to lower half, which is not ideal in any circumstances. So it's just a matter for the guys in the top five to put their hands up and come to the party.”

He continued: “It's not a matter of guys having technical deficiencies, per se, it's just the processes at the particular time may not be the best one, and especially our younger players really need to understand that patience is the name of the game in Test cricket.

“You've got to build an innings — the greatest of players will always tell you that. It's not an arena where you can just come and just beat the ball around and blast.”

Roston Chase was the star of the Windies batting down the order, hitting 106 in the first innings here to follow up his 53 in the first innings in Rajkot, and end the series with an average 46.

However, the usually prolific Kraigg Brathwaite scraped just 26 runs in four innings while Shimron Hetmyer made just 50 and Shai Hope, 91.

The Windies made 311 in the first innings on the back of Chase's century but then never looked the part on Sunday as they were dismissed in just a session-and-a-half.

“[I am] a little disappointed with the way we batted in the second innings,” Holder noted.

“I thought we fought our way back into the game after the fightback yesterday. We tried to push forward today but credit to India, they played commendably and did the basics better than us.”

West Indies included the extra spinner in left-armer Jomel Warrican and surprisingly left out seasoned new-ball seamer Kemar Roach for the contest.

But with Umesh Yadav bagging 10 wickets and he and Shannon Gabriel reaping success, Holder said playing only two quicks may have been a mistake.

“In hindsight a lot of seamers got wickets – Umesh got ten wickets, I got a five-fer and Shannon got a few wickets as well and an extra seamer would have helped. It didn't spin as much as we'd expected it to.

“We need to apply ourselves more, need to give ourselves a better chance with the bat – bat deep after getting set in.

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